Effective Project Management: Traditional, Agile, Extreme

Effective Project Management: Traditional, Agile, Extreme Managing Complexity in the Face of Uncertainty Presented by (facilitator name) Ch04: How to Plan a Project

Summary of Chapter 4 Ch04: How to Plan a Project • The Importance of Planning • Using application software packages to plan projects • Planning & conducting the Joint Project Planning Session (JPPS) • Writing a Project Description Statement • Building the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) • Estimating task duration • Estimating resource requirements • Estimating cost • Constructing the project network diagram • Analyzing the project network diagram • Leveling resources • Writing work packages • Writing an effective project proposal

Pain Poor Planning Good Planning Time 18-36% Ch04: How to Plan a Project The Pain Curve Figure 04-01

Ch04: How to Plan a Project The Importance of Planning • Planning Reduces Uncertainty: consider the likely outcomes and to put the necessary corrective measures in place when things don’t happen according to plan. • Planning Increases Understanding: better understanding of the goals and objectives of the project • Planning Improves Efficiency: take advantage of resource availability (schedule work in parallel)

Ch04: How to Plan a Project Using Software Packages to Plan a Project • Yes • Very large projects • Distributed teams • Extensive use of vendors and contractors • No • Small projects • Short duration project increments • Adds too much non-value-added work • Frequent scope and requirements changes

Ch04: How to Plan a Project Project Planning Tools • Sticky notes (assorted colors) • Marking pens (assorted colors) • Plenty of whiteboard space

Ch04: How to Plan a Project Uses for Sticky Notes • Task ID • Unique task name • Task duration • Task labor • Resource requirements • Task manager • ES, EF, LS, and LF (calculated values) • Critical Path (calculated)

Uses for Sticky Notes… • Color-coded sticky notes offer a number of alternatives for the creative planner. For example, you can use a different color to represent each of the following: • The type of task (critical, for example) • Specific parts of the WBS (design, build, test, and implement, for example) • A position on the team (a critical or scarce skill, for example)

Ch04: How to Plan a Project Uses for Marking Pens • Define dependency relationships • Identify the critical path

Ch04: How to Plan a Project Uses for the Whiteboard • Project Overview Statement • Work Breakdown Structure • Dependency Diagram • Initial Project Schedule • Final Project Schedule • Resource Schedule • Issues Log • Updated Project Schedule

Ch04: How to Plan a Project How Much Time Should Planning Take? • Very small projects < ½ day • Small projects < 1 day • Medium projects 2 days • Large projects 3-4 days • Very large projects ???

Ch04: How to Plan a Project How to Run a Project Planning Session • Planning team reviews POS for clarity • Planning team creates the complete WBS • Estimate task duration and resource needs • Construct project network diagram • Determine critical path • Revise and approve project completion date • Finalize resource schedule • Gain consensus on the project plan

Planning and Conducting Joint Project PlanningSessions • The JPPS is a group session in which all of the people who are involved in the project meet to develop the detailed plan. • The session can last from one to three days, and it can be work-intensive. • Objective: Develop a project plan that meets the COS as negotiated between the requestor and the provider, and as described in the POS. • Simple? No • Why? • The client and the project team are generally impatient to get on with the work of the project. • Team members don’t have time for planning — there is too much work to do and too many clients to satisfy.

Planning the JPPS • Team planning has always been viewed as advantageous over other forms of project planning, such as the project manager planning the project by walking around gathering data for the plan. • The first document considered in the JPPS is the POS. • The project team might write the Project Definition Statement (PDS) — their understanding of the project. • The PDS is nothing more than an expanded version of the POS, but from the perspective of the planning team.

Ch04: How to Plan a Project The Planning Meeting Components • Attendees • Facilities • Equipment • Agenda • Deliverables • Project Proposal

Attendees • The JPPS participants are invited from among those who might be affected by or have input into the project. • If the project involves deliverables or is a new process or procedure, then anyone who has input to the process, receives output from the process, or handles the deliverables should be invited to participate in the JPPS.

Ch04: How to Plan a Project The Planning Meeting Attendees • Facilitator: not have an interest or bring biases • Project manager: concentrate on the plan itself • Another project manager: facilitator • JPP consultant: another source of qualified JPPS facilitators • Technographer: expert in the software tools used to document the project plan • Core project team: individuals (from the client and from the provider) who will stay with the project from the first day to the last day. • Client representative: contribute to resolutions of change requests. • Resource managers • Project champion : drives the project and sells it to senior management

The Planning Meeting Attendees • Functional managers: manage areas that can either provide input to or receive output from the project deliverables • Process owner: If the project deliverables do not smoothly integrate into their processes, either the project plan or the affected processes will have to be altered.

Ch04: How to Plan a Project The Planning Session Facilities & Equipment • Facilities • Comfortable • Away from interruptions (off-site or on-site) • Break-out rooms? • Equipment • Break-out group work areas (table, chairs, bflip charts) • Whiteboards • Projection equipment

Ch04: How to Plan a Project The Complete Planning Agenda • Session #1 • Negotiate the COS or generate the RBS • Session #2 • Write the POS • Session #3 • Part 1: Planning Kick-off • Part 2: Working session

Session #3 (JPPS)… 1. The entire planning team creates the first-level WBS. 2. Subject matter experts develop further decomposition, with the entire planning team observing and commenting. 3. Estimate activity durations and resource requirements. 4. Construct a project network diagram. 5. Determine the critical path. 6. Revise and approve the project completion date. 7. Finalize the resource schedule. 8. Gain consensus on the project plan.

Deliverables • The deliverables from the JPPS are: • Work Breakdown Structure • Activity Duration Estimates • Resource Requirements • Project Network Schedule • Activity Schedule • Resource Assignments • Project Notebook

Ch04: How to Plan a Project Definition of the WBS The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a hierarchical description of all of the work that must be done to meet the needs of the client. The Requirements Breakdown Structure (RBS) is the input to the WBS construction process.

Ch04: How to Plan a Project Hierarchical visualization of the WBS Figure 04-02

WBS… • Terms • An activity is simply a chunk of work. • A task is a smaller chunk of work. • An activity is composed of two or ore tasks. • When the tasks that make up an activity are complete, the activity is complete. • A work package is a complete description of how the tasks that make up an activity will actually be done. It includes a description of the what, who, when, and how of the work.

WBS terms… • Breaking down work into a hierarchy of activities, tasks, and work packages is called decomposition. • Decomposition is important to the overall project plan because it enables you to estimate the duration of the project, determine the required resources, and schedule the work.

Ch04: How to Plan a Project Why is the WBS Important? • Thought process tool: It helps the project manager and the planning team visualize exactly how the work of the project can be defined and managed effectively. • Architectural design tool: WBS is a picture of the work of the project and how the items of work are related to one another. • Planning tool: It is at the lowest activity level of the WBS that you will estimate effort, elapsed time, and resource requirements; build a schedule of when the work will be completed; and estimate deliverable dates and project completion. • Project status reporting tool: Shading is often used to highlight completed tasks and activities. the WBS defines milestone events that can be reported to senior management and the client.

Ch04: How to Plan a Project How to Build a WBS • Top-Down Approach • Team Approach • Subteam Approach • Bottom-Up Approach Which is best? When? Why?

Top-Down Approach • A sufficient level of detail to enable you to estimate time, cost, and resource requirements first at the activity level and then aggregate to the project level. • Many activities should be performed in parallel, rather than in sequence. • Two variations of the top-down approach: • Team Approach: need longer time but is the better • Subteam Approach: divide the planning team into as many subteams as there are activities at Level 1 of the WBS. the entire planning team decides on the approach for the first-level breakdown. After that, the group is partitioned into subteams, with each subteam having some expertise for that part of the WBS.

Bottom-Up Approach • This approach is more like a brainstorming session than an organized approach to building the WBS. • The first steps in the bottom-up approach are the same as those for the top-down approach. Namely, the entire planning team agrees to the first-level breakdown. • The planning team is then divided into as many groups as there are first-level activities. • Each group makes a list of the activities that must be accomplished in order to complete the first-level activity.

Which is best? • The bottom-up approach randomly identifies activities and tasks, which increases the possibility of missing something. • On the other hand, the top-down approach is a logically organized approach, and the likelihood of missing an activity or task is minimal. • The author recommend the top-down approach

Using the WBS for Large Projects • As project size increases, it becomes unwieldy to build the entire WBS with the all of the planning team assembled. • Begin by decomposing the WBS down to Level 3 • At that point, develop intermediate estimates of time, resources, and dependencies for all Level 3 activities. • The planning session is adjourned, and the Level 3 activity managers are charged with completing the WBS for their part of the project. • Then the full JPPS team can be reassembled, and the planning process continues from that point.

Ch04: How to Plan a Project WBS Completion Criteria • Status and completion are measurable • Can I determine activity status at any point in time? • The activity is bounded. • Is there a defined start and end event? • The activity has a deliverable. • Does the activity have a deliverable? • Time and cost are easily estimated. • Can I easily estimate time and cost? • Activity duration is within acceptable limits. • Is the activity duration within acceptable limits? • Work assignments are independent. • Can the activity work be done without interruption?

WBS Completion Criteria… • If the activity does not possess all six of these characteristics, decompose the activity and check it again at that next lower level of decomposition. • As soon as an activity possesses the six characteristics, there is no need to further decompose it.

Status and Completion Are Measurable • What has been actually completed (that is approved) and what remains to be done, along with an estimate to completion. • A simple metric that has met with some success is to compute the proportion of tasks completed as a percentage of all tasks that make up the activity. • For example, if the activity has six tasks associated with it and four of the tasks are complete, the ratio of tasks completed to total tasks is 4/6 — that is, the activity is 60 percent complete. Even if work is done on the fifth task in this activity, because the task is not complete on the report date, it cannot be counted in the ratio.

The Activity Is Bounded • Each activity should have a clearly defined start and end event. • After the start event has occurred, work can begin on the activity. • The deliverable is most likely associated with the end event that signals work is closed on the activity.

The Activity Has a Deliverable • The deliverable is a visible sign that the activity is complete. • This sign could be an approving manager’s signature, a physical product or document, the authorization to proceed to the next activity, or some other sign of completion. • The deliverable from an activity is output from that activity, which then becomes input to one or more other activities that follow its completion.

Time and Cost Are Easily Estimated • Estimating time and cost at the lowest level of decomposition in the WBS enables you to aggregate to higher levels and estimate the total project cost and the completion date.

Activity Duration Is Within Acceptable Limits • The author recommend that an activity have a duration of less than two calendar weeks.

Work Assignments Are Independent • An activity should continue reasonably well without interruption and without the need for additional input or information until the activity is complete. • The work effort could be contiguous, but it can be scheduled otherwise for a variety of reasons. You can choose to schedule it in parts because of resource availability, but you could have scheduled it as one continuous stream of work.

Ch04: How to Plan a Project WBS Completion Criteria – The 7th criterion • The client didn’t participate in building the WBS like you expected. • You have an uncomfortable feeling • Scope change is likely to be a big part of the project • Choose a PMLC model that accommodates frequent change

Ch04: How to Plan a Project WBS Completion Criteria – Exceptions • Stopping Before Completion Criteria Are Met • Decomposing Beyond Completion of the Criteria • Short duration projects • High risk activities • Large duration variance

Project goal and solution Requirement 1 Requirement n Function 1.1 Function 1.2 Function 1.3 Function n.1 Function n.2 Function n.3 Sub-function 1.2.1 Sub-function 1.2.2 Sub-function 1.2.3 Activity 1.2.1.1.3 Activity 1.2.1.1.2 Activity 1.2.1.1.1 Activity n.3.4.1 Activity n.3.4.3 Activity n.3.4.2 Feature n.3.3 Feature n.3.1 Feature n.3.2 Feature n.3.4 Feature 1.2.1.4 Feature 1.2.1.3 Feature 1.2.1.1 Feature 1.2.1.2 Task 1.2.1.1.3.1 Task 1.2.1.1.3.2 Task 1.2.1.1.3.3 Task n.3.4.3.2 Task n.3.4.3.1 Task n.3.4.3.3 Ch04: How to Plan a Project RBS is a subset of the WBS RBS WBS Figure 04-03

Ch04: How to Plan a Project Approaches to Building the WBS • Noun-type Approaches • Physical components • Functional components • Verb-type Approaches • Design-build-test-implement • Objectives • Organizational approaches • Geographic • Departmental • Business process Which is best? When? Why?

Ch04: How to Plan a Project Approaches to Building the WBS Noun-type Approaches: • defines the deliverable of the project in terms of the components: • Physical components • Functional components • Currently recommended by PMI. • Closed to the RBS. • RBS is a part of the WBS

Ch04: How to Plan a Project Building the WBS

Project goal and solution Requirement 1 Requirement n Function 1.1 Function 1.2 Function 1.3 Function n.1 Function n.2 Function n.3 Sub-function 1.2.1 Sub-function 1.2.2 Sub-function 1.2.3 Activity 1.2.1.1.3 Activity 1.2.1.1.1 Activity 1.2.1.1.2 Activity n.3.4.1 Activity n.3.4.3 Activity n.3.4.2 Feature n.3.3 Feature n.3.1 Feature n.3.2 Feature n.3.4 Feature 1.2.1.4 Feature 1.2.1.3 Feature 1.2.1.1 Feature 1.2.1.2 Task 1.2.1.1.3.2 Task 1.2.1.1.3.1 Task 1.2.1.1.3.3 Task n.3.4.3.3 Task n.3.4.3.1 Task n.3.4.3.2 Ch04: How to Plan a Project RBS is a subset of the WBS RBS WBS RBS: what must be done WBS: How it will be done Figure 04-03

Ch04: How to Plan a Project Approaches to Building the WBS • Verb-type Approaches • Define the deliverable of the project in terms of action that must be done to produce the deliverable. • Design-build-test-implement • used in projects that involve methodology such as system development • Objectives: • used when frequent progress reports submitted to the senior management. • Objectives are almost always related to business value and will be well received by senior management as well as the client. • Cause some difficulty because objectives always overlap.

Ch04: How to Plan a Project Approaches to Building the WBS • Organizational approaches • Used only when forced by senior management and organizational structure • Types include: • Geographic • Departmental • Business process

Organizational approaches: Geographic • If project work is geographically dispersed, it may make sense from coordination and communication perspectives to partition the work first by geographic location and then by some other approach at each location.

Effective Project Management: Traditional, Agile, Extreme